英国卫报：为诺奖官员提供全额资助旅行，日本“诺贝尔奖策略”惹恼瑞典人
本帖最后由 DFL 于 2025-10-10 11:46 编辑https://www.theguardian.com/worl ... tionaleducationnews
Sun 16 Dec 2001（本文发表已逾23年）
日本“诺贝尔奖策略”惹恼瑞典人
为诺奖官员提供全额资助旅行，引发北欧民众愤怒
罗宾·麦基 科学编辑
2001年12月16日 星期日 格林尼治标准时间10:57
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It was supposed to be an innocuous offer to aid scientific co-operation between two countries. But an attempt to get Sweden's Nobel Foundation officials to take an all-expenses trip to Japan has outraged Scandinavian scientific sensibilities, and threatens to trigger a breakdown between the two nations.
这本应是一项旨在促进两国科学合作的无害提议。但试图邀请瑞典诺贝尔基金会官员前往日本进行全额资助旅行的举动，激怒了北欧科学界，还可能引发两国关系破裂。
'The invitations pose an ethical problem,' Nobel committee member Anders Barany told Nature last week. 'There is such an outspoken Japanese policy to acquire Nobel prizes.'
“这些邀请存在伦理问题，”诺贝尔委员会成员安德斯·巴拉尼上周告诉《自然》杂志，“日本为获得诺贝尔奖制定了如此公开的政策。”
The row also underlines how agitated the Japanese have become about their international image as unoriginal imitators, a failing that goes deep into the country's troubled psyche.
这场争议还凸显出，日本人对自身“缺乏原创力的模仿者”这一国际形象有多焦虑——这一短板已深深植根于该国纠结的民族心理中。
A few months ago this insecurity led Japan's government to make an extraordinary promise: its scientists would win a startling 30 Nobel prizes over the next 50 years. Given that the nation has managed only nine in 100 years, this promise will require its boffins to increase their Nobel output by more than 500 per cent, an unprecedented improvement.
几个月前，这种不安全感促使日本政府做出了一项非同寻常的承诺：未来50年内，该国科学家将赢得30个诺贝尔奖，这一数字令人震惊。考虑到日本100年来仅获得过9个诺奖，要实现这一承诺，其科研人员的诺奖获得数量需增长500%以上，这是前所未有的提升幅度。
'Could the government of any other country get away with making such ridiculous promises?' asked one unhappy Tokyo researcher.
“其他国家的政府敢做出如此荒谬的承诺而不被指责吗？”一位不满的东京研究人员质问道。
Despite such criticisms, the country has followed up this pledge energetically. The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science set up an 'information office' at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, Sweden's medical university. Its function seems a blatant attempt to lobby Nobel medical committee members about the merits of Japanese researchers.
尽管面临此类批评，日本仍积极践行这一承诺。日本学术振兴会在瑞典医科大学——斯德哥尔摩卡罗林斯卡学院设立了一个“信息办公室”。其职能似乎是公然游说诺贝尔医学委员会成员，向他们宣传日本研究人员的学术成就。
In a world of the quiet academic, such directness is unprecedented. But the Japanese have followed up their information office with an attempt to pay for a group of Nobel laureates and Nobel Foundation staff to come to Japan to celebrate the prizes' centenary.
在学术界向来低调行事的大环境下，这种直接的做法前所未有。不仅如此，在设立信息办公室后，日本还试图出资邀请一批诺贝尔奖得主及诺贝尔基金会工作人员赴日，共同庆祝诺贝尔奖设立百年。
The Japanese say they are just being hospitable. It is customary to cover visiting scientists' expenses, they claim. It is not a view shared by Barany. The Nobel Foundation has enough money to pick up the bill for any visit, he told Nature.
日本人表示，这只是出于好客之道。他们声称，为来访科学家承担费用是惯例。但巴拉尼并不认同这一说法。他告诉《自然》杂志，诺贝尔基金会有足够的资金支付任何出行费用。
Moreover, the bid is also controversial within Japan. There the government's Nobel policy has also stirred up intense feelings, although few scientists deny that the nation has a pitiable prize record for one of the world's richest and most technologically proficient nations.
此外，这一举措在日本国内也引发了争议。尽管几乎没有科学家否认，作为全球最富有、技术最先进的国家之一，日本的诺奖获奖记录确实惨淡，但政府的“诺奖政策”仍激起了民众的强烈情绪。
In 100 years, Japan has picked up only six Nobel prizes in the main science topics of physics, chemistry and physiology. (Ironically, one of these was awarded this year to the chemist Ryoji Noyori.) By contrast, Britain has won 70 in these fields, even though its population is less than half that of Japan.
100年来，日本在物理、化学、生理学这三大主要科学领域仅获得过6个诺贝尔奖。（颇具讽刺意味的是，其中一个奖项于今年颁给了化学家野依良治。）相比之下，英国在这些领域已斩获70个诺奖，而其人口还不足日本的一半。
For a country whose electronics, cars and computers dominate world markets, such a level of scientific excellence is puny and worrying.
对于一个电子产品、汽车和计算机占据全球市场主导地位的国家而言，这样的科研顶尖成就水平既微不足道，又令人担忧。
But simply going round throwing money on the world promotion of Japanese scientists will not solve the problem, say critics. It is not that the rest of the world is just failing to understand Japanese greatness. The real problem lies with the nation's educational failings. The country lacks creativity because its educational system relies far too heavily on rote learning and conformity.
但批评人士表示，仅仅靠砸钱在全球范围内宣传日本科学家，并不能解决根本问题。并非世界其他地区无法认可日本的科研实力，真正的问题在于该国的教育缺陷。由于教育体系过于依赖死记硬背和循规蹈矩，日本正面临创造力匮乏的困境。
In addition, the entire Japanese university system is top-heavy and paternalistic. Its academic 'koza' system gives professors immense power to dictate what their younger researchers do. Instead of pursuing their own original ideas, these young scientists have to follow up the moribund ideas of ageing bosses.
此外，整个日本大学体系存在层级臃肿、家长式管理的问题。其学术“讲座制”（koza system）赋予教授极大权力，可直接支配年轻研究人员的工作方向。这些年轻科学家无法追寻自己的原创想法，只能继续研究年长导师那些已过时的学术理念。
As one of Japan's few Nobel prize winners - Hideki Shirakawa, of the University of Tsukaba - says, younger scientists have little alternative 'unless they go abroad'. Until that problem is tackled, no amount of promotion will buy the nation what it now openly craves: tangible scientific credibility.
正如日本为数不多的诺贝尔奖得主之一、筑波大学的白川英树所言，年轻科学家“除非出国，否则别无选择”。在这一核心问题得到解决之前，无论投入多少资源进行宣传，都无法为日本赢得其如今公开渴求的东西——实实在在的科研公信力。
换个名字就是今天的中国，但日本人该干还是干：
尽管面临此类批评，日本仍积极践行这一承诺。日本学术振兴会在瑞典医科大学——斯德哥尔摩卡罗林斯卡学院设立了一个“信息办公室”。其职能似乎是公然游说诺贝尔医学委员会成员，向他们宣传日本研究人员的学术成就。
100年来，日本在物理、化学、生理学这三大主要科学领域仅获得过6个诺贝尔奖。（颇具讽刺意味的是，其中一个奖项于今年颁给了化学家野依良治。）相比之下，英国在这些领域已斩获70个诺奖，而其人口还不足日本的一半。
日本人对自身“缺乏原创力的模仿者”这一国际形象有多焦虑——这一短板已深深植根于该国纠结的民族心理中。
但批评人士表示，仅仅靠砸钱在全球范围内宣传日本科学家，并不能解决根本问题。并非世界其他地区无法认可日本的科研实力，真正的问题在于该国的教育缺陷。由于教育体系过于依赖死记硬背和循规蹈矩，日本正面临创造力匮乏的困境。 拿不到奖就拿不到，光明磊落一点，好好努力就可以。搞这些歪门邪道干嘛？有意思嘛。输不起啊？ 二十年前，那些说日本人缺乏创新的人，和今天说中国人缺乏创新的人，是一副嘴脸吧？ 有行贿赂的嫌疑，
但眼下倭国获奖的人员与项目，还看不出有蹊跷。
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